When Sacred Heart Greenwich senior guard Aisha Hassan made a 3-pointer early in the first quarter against rival St. Luke’s School it marked a sign of things to come for the Tigers, who made shots from all areas of the court at a rapid pace.

The points came quickly for the hot-shooting Tigers, who shot an extremely high percentage from the floor in the first half of this FAA matchup on Feb. 5, scored 23 points in the first quarter and 27 in the second quarter.

That’s right, Sacred Heart Greenwich scored 50 first-half points against one of their main rivals and bolstered by its outstanding half, coasted to an emphatic 78-50 home win over St. Luke’s. The decisive victory ran the defending FAA champion Tigers’ overall record to 13-4 and FAA mark to a perfect 7-0. St. Luke’s is 6-1 in the FAA.

Hassan scored 26 points, including three 3-pointers and senior forward/center Jadamarie Henry posted a career-high 23 points to power Sacred Heart, which held a comfortable 50-24 halftime lead on St. Luke’s.

“We’ve struggled to put the ball in the basket recently and I thought it all came together today,” Sacred Heart Greenwich coach Ayo Hart said. “Part of the reason it came together is we’ve had some good practices, but also, we did a lot of talking and we said we just have to keep shooting. As long as we’re getting offensive rebounds, we want the girls to shoot the ball. I’m super happy for them.”

The Tigers, who were coming off a 43-33 loss to Loomis Chaffee School on the road, is currently ranked second in Class A of the NEPSAC. As coach Hart pointed out, the Tigers had been experiencing a bit of trouble putting points on the scoreboard the previous several games, but this matchup against the Storm saw them breakout offensively.

Junior guard Eva Wilkerson totaled 11 points, nine of which came during the Tigers’ big first half. Sophomore guard/forward Emma Matthews swished three 3-point shots for nine points and sophomore guard Lucianna Parrotta had six points for SHG, which also excelled on defense.

“I think it was a complete team effort,” said Wilkerson, a captain, who grabbed five rebounds, had six assists, two steals and shot 75 percent for the game. “Everyone contributed in their own way, whether it was scoring, rebounding, getting steals, deflections. Everyone played really well.”

Forward Olivia White scored 15 points, while guard Camdyn Nelson, a Greenwich resident, had eight points for St. Luke’s, which lost to Sacred Heart in the FAA Tournament final one season ago.

“It’s so much fun being undefeated in the FAA again and especially with this win against St. Luke’s,” said SHG senior guard captain Mackenzie Gillen, who had three points and two assists. “I’ve been on the team a while now and St. Luke’s has always been a big rival of ours. After beating them last year and then coming back and making such a statement today.”

Matthews made a 3-pointer, then Henry nailed a jump shot from the elbow, putting SHG on top of the Storm, 8-2, early in the opening quarter. A layup by Hassan gave the Tigers an 11-2 advantage, prompting a Storm timeout with 5:21 remaining in the first quarter.

After the Storm made it 13-6 on a pair of foul shots by Nelson, Gillen swished a 3-pointer from the right corner, Wilkerson made a basket and Hassan scored in transition, upping Sacred Heart’s first-quarter edge to 18-8. Parrotta’s layup made it a 12-point lead at 20-8 for the hosts, which quickly moved the ball up the court throughout.

“We haven’t been scoring a lot the last few games, so we talked before the game about how we needed to move the ball more and have better shot selection,” Hassan said. “We were all focused and we made our shots.”

The Tigers were even more efficient offensively in the second quarter. They began the second period with a 13-0 run to open a commanding 36-10 lead. Hassan began the second quarter by driving hard to the basket for a layup, Wilkerson made a fastbreak layup, Henry made a jumper from the short corner and swished a 3-point shot from the left corner and Hassan converted another basket, extending Sacred Heart’s lead to 16 points.

SHG displayed excellent passing on offense against St. Luke’s man-to-man defense.

“Today we had a great offensive run, we were moving the ball really quickly, never letting it stick, getting it to hit both sides of the court, so that opened up a lot of space,” said Henry, a captain, who also pulled down nine rebounds and shot 60 percent from the field. “Especially that stuff we reviewed in film where they had gaps in their defense, so we made sure we were getting to those spots and hitting those people at the right time. All of our shots fell today.”

Consecutive baskets by Henry, later in the second quarter, put the home team on top of the Storm, 40-14. Wilkerson’s 3-pointer capped the Tigers huge 50-point first half.

“We knew we had to play hard,” Wilkerson said. “They’re a really good team. That definitely put us in the driver’s seat to be one of the top teams in the FAA and we knew what was on the line in this game. We had to compete with each other and for each other.”

Indeed, Hart was pleased with her squad’s pace of play.

“We like to go up tempo and we feel that if we can keep doing that then we can keep people against the ropes,” she said. “I was really happy with how fast we were moving the ball.”

The third quarter with the Tigers holding a 65-32 lead on the Storm, who applied full court pressure for the majority of the second half.

Henry scored 14 points in the second half, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter.

“We focused on faking the ball to move the defender and getting to those key open shots on the court like in the middle and the short corners, or the weak sides of the basket,” Henry noted.

The Tigers’ defensive play was also a plus in this late season FAA game. They played man-to-man defense for most of the game and occasionally switched to a zone. Much of their emphasis was slowing down Nelson, who has a potent offensive game.

“I thought we played amazing defense,” Gillen said. “I think everyone hustled so hard and put in so much effort. If we keep playing defense like that it’s going to be really hard to beat us.”

Said Henry: “On defense, it’s really all about talking and communication, so switching or not switching on screens, making sure you know who your defender was. In the heat of the game from the third quarter and above, we kept our communication.”

“I think that’s the most consistent thing we’ve been doing since the beginning of the season,” Hassan said of the team’s defensive effort. “We’ve been defending and trying to stop our opponents and we’re going to keep doing that.”

Hassan dished out five assists and had two steals, Parrotta snared a career-high 12 rebounds, to go along with four assists and two blocked shots and sophomore guard Lucia Coviello had two points and five rebounds for the victors.

SHG travels to Newton Country Day School for a 2 p.m. matchup on Saturday. The Tigers travel to Hopkins School on Monday (Feb. 10) for an FAA game, then host Miss Porter’s School Wednesday (Feb. 12) at 3:45 p.m.

“We are undefeated in the FAA, so this was a big game for us, we still have a couple of more FAA games left.” Hart noted. “We’re now 13-4 and we’re sitting at No. 2 in Class A, which is huge.”

“Our overall goal is definitely a championship,” Gillen said. “First in the FAAs and then NEPSACs too, so I think that we have to keep playing like we did today. Everyone has to play their part and I think that we’ll go really far.”

Photos courtesy of Antonio Monteiro/06878 Photography: To the left, Grace Kearney of St. Luke’s shoots in the lane, while Sacred Heart’s Mackenzie Gillen looks to draw a charge. To the right, Eva Wilkerson of SHG in action.

Photos by Antonio Monteiro/06878 Photography: To the left, Lucianna Parrotta in action for SHG. To the right, Sacred Heart’s Aisha Hassan shoots a layup in the first half against St. Luke’s.

For more pictures of the Sacred Heart-St. Luke’s varsity basketball game click on this link: https://www.06878photography.com/basketball—sacred-heart-greenwich-varsity-girls-vs-st-lukes-varsity-girls-at-sacred-heart–greenwi